Stewart Copeland © Shayne Gray
©Photo: Shayne Gray

Stewart Copeland: Opera

“Stewart Copeland’s tech opera about physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla pulsates with rhythm and reminiscences. Strong currents, both erotic and electric, ran between Richard Morrison in the title role and his muse, sung by Emma Moore. Marvellous work by Gregor Bühl and the Staatskapelle Weimar in the pit.…”

Operamagazine

Electric Saint

After three successful Opera collaborations, two electric figures of music theatre, Stewart Copeland and Jonathan Moore reunite to bring to the operatic stage the Race for Electricity with ​‘Electric Saint’, which premiered on September 5th 2021 at Deutches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar.

In this powerfully theatrical new opera , they will portray Tesla as the radical scientist, inventor, philosopher, prophet and mystic that he was.

His journey from poverty and obscurity to fame and fortune and back again. An inversion of the American Dream.

Congruent with his notion of the circularity and concurrence of time, the opera will be experimenting with time and space in the dramaturgy and music, reflecting his own understanding of the bends, shapes and repetitions of time itself.

The Invention of Morel 

A fugitive from justice has found refuge on a remote island. There is rumour of a strange disease connected to this deserted place. Suddenly a group of exotic tourists arrive. He fears arrest but falls in love with one of the intruders. To meet her would be to risk everything but his heart drags him to her. She ignores him completely! Soon he is barging in on the tourists’ strangely anachronistic party, wailing for attention. Why won’t she acknowledge him, why won’t they arrest him? What are those machines in the basement? And why does she keep repeating the same conversation with that Morel? A charismatically odd man, made even stranger by his isolation, solving a cosmic mystery while maddened by love is the sort of fantastic romance that opera serves so well.

The Invention of Morel - Trailer
The Invention of Morel
New Opera Showcase 2016: The Invention of Morel — Interview with the Creators

Tell Tale Heart

The Tell-Tale Heart is based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story of the same name. The first, ​“The Cask of Amontillado,” which he calls ​“a two-hander for baritone and tenor,” had its premiere in Barbados in 1993. The opera is only 25 minutes long and it received its American premiere at Long Beach Opera, on a bill with another one-act opera. 

Copeland’s work, with a cast of six, was commissioned for a small performance space in London’s Royal Opera House, where it debuted in 2011. 

Tell Tale Heart: Take Apart Everything You See

The Witches Seed

Stewart Copeland​’s opera The Witches Seed in collaboration with Creative Partner Chrissie Hynde and with a libretto by regular collaborator Jonathan Moore, is inspired by the history of the witch hunts in Europe, based on procedural documents referring to the years of the bloodiest Inquisition, and the most fascinating legends of the central Europe mountain cultures. 

A spectacular new opera with fantasy-style scenography, the production uses the most innovative digital technologies to create a unique and immersive visual experience, transporting audiences through time and space. This evocative imaginary dimension is brought to life by the extraordinary Italian visual artist and creative designer, Edvige Faini ‑and by the incredible cast featured in The Witches Seed.

Conducted by fellow Polyarts artist, Eímear Noone, the opera produced and commissioned by Tones on the Stones Festival made its debut in Italy in July 2022.

THE WITCHES SEED - Trailer
The Witches Seed: Soon the Dark Desires Begin
The Witches Seed: They Need To Blame Someone

“It is a drama carved in granite, a painting by Hyeronimus Bosch that comes to life with the miasma of a story poised between history and legend​“The Witches Seed”, the English musical by Stewart Copeland on magical rituals and practices of the Ossola Valley brought to its debut by Irene Grandi the other night at the Tones Teatro Natura, the stage set in a disused quarry by Oira Cravoladossola.”

The Witches Seed Opera], Il Giorno

“My music portrays [fierce] women who will not be silenced. Look at all that is going on in America right now. We should not be afraid to share power”

THE WITCHES SEED OPERA], CORRIERE DELLA SERA